The 15 Minute Sweep

Do you remember the movie “The Stepmom“?

There was a scene in that movie that was a revelation for me.

No, not when Susan Sarandon’s character found out she had cancer or when she realized she was going to have to accept Julia Roberts character as her children’s step-mom.

Nope.

It was when she had put the kids to bed and was going about the house, picking things up here and there and putting them back where they belonged. I think she even collected everyone’s clothing from the day and washed it.

Wow.

You mean you can do that? Just a little load of laundry every day or two and pretty much always have clean clothes?

Wow.

OK. All joking aside, it really is a good idea.

But don’t miss the other part of that - going through the house picking things up and putting them back.

Now I know that ideally everyone does that all day long. Yeah, in some fictional world where men actually put a new roll of toilet paper on when it needs it.

If you’ve got kids, especially younger ones, it’s a great idea to have that precede their nightly routine of winding down and getting ready for bed.

For us ADD Moms, I think maybe this would work right after we clean up the kitchen after dinner or get the homework started. Or you could always space it out during commercials on TV.

It can actually be a kind of peaceful and relaxing thing - putting the house back in order before bed. Waking up to a neat, tidy home.

Of course, if your house is a little chaotic, this won’t be a peaceful experience, because it will take more than 15 minutes to get it done. Maybe once you get things back in order, this would be a good habit to cultivate.

Its only 15 minutes, but worth so much more.

About Brenda Nicholson

I am an ADD coach and the mother of 3 children with Attention Deficit Disorder.

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